Removing trub is a never-ending dilemma for me. Allowing it to settle to the bottom of the brew pot and then siphoning the wort off it just seems to cause more problems than it is worth. The siphon always clogs even when using a copper scouring sponge as a filter. Has anybody found a better solution?

In my experience, to get rid of the resulting sludge, don't drag the siphon along the bottom of the brew pot. Its hard to avoid the guk but it helps. Then I like to use filters when siphoning from fermenter to carboy and so forth.

So I assume that you siphon off the top and lower the siphon hose as the liquid level gets lower until you reach the sediment at the bottom. If I do this then I should probably brew about 5 1/2 to 6 gallons to get 5 gallons in the end. Thanks for the tip!

To reduce the risk of contamination, you can transfer all the wort to a glass carboy if you are brewing 5 gallons. This way you can watch the trub settle to the bottom, and when it has formed a layer at the bottom you can siphon the wort off the sediment into your primary fermenter and pitch the yeast. The advantages are: 1) visibility and 2) shelter from contamination during the settling period.